Cyclone Nargis, 3 May 2008
On May 2, 2008, a Class IV cyclone named Nargis hit Burma, battering Burma’s main rice-growing region, the Irrawaddy Delta. After the storm, an area equivalent in size to the entire state of New Jersey was under water.
The death toll climbed from 400 people at first to over 100,000. As Burma’s military regime blocked international aid, agencies speculated that the final death count would exceed 1 million people because of disease and starvation.
